L'Aquila, Italy, Feb 22, 2008 / 01:18 am
An Italian judge campaigning about crosses being placed in public buildings has been convicted for the third time for refusing to enter courtrooms unless their crucifixes were removed, ANSA reports.
A court in the central Italian city of L’Aquila gave Judge Luigi Tosti, 59, a suspended one-year jail term and banned him from holding public office for a year.
Judge Tosti is currently serving the second of two similar bans for refusing to perform his judicial duties in another town.
On Thursday, Judge Tosti refused to take part in court proceedings until the cross in the courtroom was taken down and “the secular nature of the assembly restored.”